YUME - My Dream

Yume

YUME? What is yume? Yume is a Japanese word that means dream. There are a lot of interpretation for the word "dream".

However, in my case, I see this "dream" as a goal.

In this post, I will be sharing one of the journal entries that I have written in college where this journal entry of mine has something to do with the topic mentioned, which is yume - dream. 

Dreams

Dream is something that all of us need. We need something, like a life goal, to spur us on to continue living in this ever-changing world. “I have a dream,” by Martin Luther King. These are the words that Martin Luther King used in his famous speech against dis­crim­i­na­tion of African Americans. He gave his life for his dream, but in the end the dream came true. As for me, I have dozens of dreams, no, hundreds of dreams that I want to achieve.

In my journal I want to talk only about one of my dreams. I want to talk about my first-in-the-list dream, “Travel to the Land of The Rising Sun - Japan”. I was greatly influenced by the Japan’s animated series, also commonly known as Anime, which made me jotted down Japan as my dream. The anime that I have watched were all really amazing. Scenic landscapes of Hokkaido, picturesque view of the hardworking villagers working in the field, and the simply exquisite mountains that cannot be described by words totally amazed me. Entranced by the wonders of Japan, their cultures, and what-not, I became determined to make “Travel to Japan” my first dream to achieve in my bucketful of dreams.

Japan, as we all know, are known as the Land of The Rising Sun. Japan has four seasons: autumn, winter, spring, and fall. Since I have been living in Malaysia for almost – who knows – my whole life, and as we all can see, Malaysia has only one season and I am not even sure if that could even be counted as a season – monsoon season. Truth to be told, I do not really like living in Malaysia because there are not much things to see in my country, anyway. If I were given a chance, I would definitely choose to go to a four-season country, like Taiwan, America, Korea, or Japan. But my priority is to go to Japan first, then sojourn other parts of the world.

Fujisan accompanied by sakura 

This dream actually requires a lot of sacrifice as I would need lots of money in order for me to go to my dream country. In other words, I want to migrate there. However, there is a catch in doing so, which would be the language barrier. How could I stay there when I do not even have the basics of Japanese? I would not be able to converse with them, what more be friends with the people? Thus, to get over this impediment that stops me from realizing my dream, I must first master their language so that I could get along with the native Japanese. Also, I possess an advantage that would be beneficial to me, and that would be – I have conquered the basics of the Japanese language.

Seriously?
.........Well, yeah.. I know how to speak "broken" Japanese........

I learned Japanese before in my previous university – Malaysia Japanese Higher Education Program MJHEP – although only for one month. However, in that short period of time, I have gained prodigious amount of knowledge regarding my adored country. I had conversations with my Japanese lecturers in Japanese, of course, I talked with them outside of class, and even joke with them. They are truly amicable people, so friendly and lovable. I guess that are also one of the traits that I love about them. There is another way for me to move one step closer in achieving my dream, which would be watching Japanese animation. That could be of help for me to further improve my Japanese skills. In fact, I have been doing so ever since I was in seventh grade – Form 1. Like I said before, I was greatly influenced by the indescribable alluring nature of Japan through anime. Through that, as well, I gained a bunch of Japanese lexicons and it boosts my knowledge of the language, and the country itself.

Natsu Matsuri

                To tell the truth, the main reason why I chose Japan as the country of my heart is actually pretty simple. The truth is I love Japan’s culture. Their traditional clothing – Kimono and Yukata, school uniforms (also known as sailor fuku, which means sailor’s uniform), and there are also the geisha and their food which made me love Japan so much. I simply adore their adorable bento­ (packed lunch) and the onigiri (rice ball). See, there are so many awesome things that one can see in Japan. I just wish that I could brag to the whole world about how great a country Japan is. It has almost everything. The clothes, mouth-watering delicacies, superb festivals like Hana Matsuri – festival that Buddhists celebrate in the shrines, and also sumo (Japanese wrestling), are the paramount attractions of tourists.

Yukata in Harajuku

Sailor Fuku 

Bento

                In general, my dream to “Travel to the Land of The Rising Sun – Japan” is definitely achievable. As I said in my introduction, for every dream to be fulfilled, a sacrifice has to be made. We should always try our hardest and put in an amount of effort to bring to fruition our dreams and goals in life. Like me, I will endeavor to study relentlessly and earn a whole heap of wealth just so I could migrate to my most venerated country – Japan, where all the anime came from. (Tee hee)

My friends and I, during a festival at my college. (Can you spot me?)

From.... Nana-san